The world's largest steel­maker Arcelor Mittal plans to team up with stateowned PT Anek? Tam­bang (Antam) and PT Kra­katau Steel to develop mines and a steel plant at a total investment of at least US$3 billion.

The plan was announced by the Investment Coordinat­ing Board (BKPM) following a visit by CEO Lakshmi Mit­tal to the State Palace Thurs­day to discuss the investment plan with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Mittal, called by Forbes magazine in March the world's fourthrichest person with an estimated wealth of $45 billion up one place from a year ago owns 44 percent shares in Arcelor Mittal.

"Lakshmi came here with a full team, accompanied by his son. who is also the com­pany's chief financial officer, and topranking officials from the company's merger and acquisition department," BKPM chairman Muhammad Lutfi told The Jakarta Post.

After the meeting. Lutfi said, BKPM would facilitate cooperation between the company and Antam for securing the supply of miner­als, particularly iron ore, nickel and manganese, and with Krakatau Steel for a feasibility study for estab­lishing a steel plant.

Among locations consid­ered appropriate for the steel plant, he said, was Kaliman­tan considering the proximity to mineral reserves.Present during the meeting with the President, the Industry Ministry's Fahmi Idris said the President was very' "positive" on Mittal's proiposal and had ordered the Coor­dinating Minister for the Economy to issue a detailed formal response.

"The response will in­clude, among other things, a requirement for the company to utilize environmentally friendly technology in its operations," Fahmi said as quoted by Antara.

According to a statement sent to the Post, the President said he hoped the country would be able to learn from the success of Arcelor Mit­tal, which currently controls 10 percent of the world's steel supply for automotive, household and other indus­trial sectors.

The Mittal family started their global empire by estab­lishing PT Ispat Indo in Sidoarjo, East Java, in 1976, already in the steelmaking business with an initial pro­duction capacity of 60,000 tons a year The company cur­rently produces approximately 700,000 tons a year.

Arcelor Mittal was found­ed in 2006 when Euro pebased Arcelor merged with Mittal Steel, which was formed after Ispat Interna­tional and LNM Holdings, both controlled by Lakshmi Mittal, merged with Interna­tional Steel Group in 2004.

"The experience of PT Lspat Indo shows we can meet international quality standards. What we must do now is increase production volume," the President said.I ask BKPM and the two stateowned firms to waste no time. This opportunity must be seized through a joint investment."